FRANCE: Testing of Urbanloop personal rapid transit pods has begun on 2 km track in a park at St-Quentin-en-Yvelines in the suburbs of Paris.
The line is to be operated by Keolis, connecting a car park to a 2024 Olympic Games fan zone.
The rubber-tyred vehicles have a maximum speed of 50 km/h and a capacity of four people. They are intended to function in a similar manner to a lift, with passengers boarding and then selecting a destination which the capsule then routes itself to. Electricity is supplied via the track, which has no moving parts with the vehicles selecting their own route at junctions.
Urbanloop has also signed a contract to build a line connecting Nancy city centre with its suburbs by 2027.
Paris transport operator RATP and Matra developed a similar personal rapid transit system under the Aramis name in the 1970s, but the Urbanloop team says that advancements in technology mean that the current project offers more possibilities.
